I'm in ENGLAND!

Hey Geeys, Made it safely and with noooo problems. I was quite impressed andproud because I hate traveling. Wouldn't you know, the internet is down at school because they just installed a new phone system whichcrashed the net connection.. I took a bus into the city of Lancastertoday and got myself a library card so that I can use the internethere. I will maybe get to mail on a once-a-week basis until theschools gets fixed.. you'll also be interested to know that i left thecord which connects my camera to the computer so i can't send picturesyet. i'm going to hit up a radio shack today and see if i can getsomething. the weather here has been nice and it's only rained a couple oftimes. i've made many new friends and i can't get over how green andbeautiful it is. i'll be sitting in the lounge on a couch, andlook up to see these 15 foot tall ceilings inlayed with gold andwood-- carved with lots of detail and then i'll startlaughing and think "there's no freaking way i'm here" its nuts.i'm sleeping in a building separate from the main "castle-like" house for the firstthree months and then i'm in the main house for the second three. thelectures have been amazing and i've learned a lot about the history ofthe old testament. A gentleman came to teach a course called "walk throughthe bible" and we learned handsigns to help us remember the entire oldtestament including all major geographical locations, people, numberof years and events. The best part is, it worked! i can now tell youall that stuff from memory-- and i dont usually pick up on things thatquickly. it's been a wonderful learning experience. The traveling was great. I met a guy named josh who was ont hesame flight as me and also attending capernwray, so we travelled tothe school together. we almost missed our train in manchester, and atthe last moment, the train conductor said "what are you waiting for?this train goes to carnforth" then he threw our bags into one of therailcars and we stepped in after them-- in one mighty swoop managing to blockingoff several fire exits and major pathways throughout the car. Therewas no more room to sit down so we stood there until we could get offat another station and move to a different car. My plan to "beatjetlag" failed miserably.. My whole sleep-on-the-plane concept flewout the window once i found the remote control to the tv on the backof the seat infront of me.. it also had nintendo built into it-- sofor the next six hours i played dr. mario, watched will and grace,friends and scrubs. it was a short plane ride! what i ended up doingwas forcing myself to stay awake until that night, and then i had onenap the next day for 2 hours. I was fully adjusted to the time changein 2 days so i am really happy about that! When i arrived, a guy namedjon from ireland -- he's about my age-- helped me carry my bags to myroom. i was embarrassed because i overpacked and it weighed a tonne..if you can imagine, it's this young guy with a THICK-THICK irishaccent, and he picked up my bag and yelled "Man alive!" I have met some lovely people-- i've really becomeclose to a few girls already..seanna, you'llappreciate this-- one of them is into all things acoustic.. i waslistening to jason mraz and she ran in singing the words.. and then wespent the rest of the evening talking about jack johnson, davematthews, barenaked ladies etc. etc. oh man... soo good.. she's fromcalifornia.. i playedviolin with a girl from romania the other evening. she'samazing, so we did a whole bunch of duets-- some canons and bachpieces.. we're going to see if we can plan something for a sundayservice sometime soon. (nice alliteration ey?) when i got there inoticed pretty much everyone-- including the canadians, were alreadystarting to pronounce some words with an english accent and i'm afraidi might soon pick it up.. haha its weird because you listen to all thelectures and everyone who speaks has an english accent-- so you startspeaking and notice that the odd word will slip out that is pronounceddifferently. i've decided england is like.. mini canada, and much older.everything is tiny, and everyone drives sooo fast and recklessly. ifyou think you've seen crazy driving, you haven't until you come here.i've never seen anything like it. the view from the school is incredible.. you look out the windowand you see miles and miles of green hillside-- and there are cows andsheep everywhere. i have been walking a loop -- trying to do it daily,it's almost a half hour walk, and it takes you down the road from the school,you open this big iron gate and it takes you through these sheepfields, down this dirt path and loops back up to the castle. i've takena few pictures and i can't wait for you to see them. it's beenamazing. another thing i've noticed, is that they're these big honking slugsthat are at least an inch long, if not more. one girl stepped on onecoming into t he building on a rainy day and smushed it into the mat..so the little front entrance way smells really rank.. i sprayed it andleft the door open, but the smell has crept back.. we'll have to dealwith it soon. given the new phone system, you can call.. i dont know the numberfor our building so you're going to have to call the number i gave youand then ask for the number for the conference hall rooms. the phoneis in the hall so if you call, call before 6:00pm YOUR TIME because 6for you is like.. 11pm for me and everyone will try to stone me if youcall late.. but if its before 11, then you can say you're calling forme in room 8 when someone answers.. now, i'm not expectingphonecalls-- maybe family or a few of you who are close would want tocall, but its nice to hear familiar voices so if you can afford it,then please do, but i am not expecting to hear from everyone. emailwill do just nicely. i'm really tired and there is sooo much to say which is why i'vebeen jumping from topic to topic in no particular order. all's well...i'm healthy, happy... have friends and i haven't been gored by anybulls. so take care everyone, and i hope to hear from you. if you wantto send me handwritten letters to the address i sent in the firstemail, that'd be fun.. oh and if you do send something, send food--lots of food.. but other than that, i hope this email finds you allwell. take special care!love leslieps, the shift key is oddly shaped and in an awkward place on thekeyboard so i abandoned it all together which is why most things arein lower case